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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A late day email arrived to subscribers of Spa magazine. The email was from Apple and it was sent it inform readers that Bonnier had closed the magazine.

Dear Reader,
Bonnier has advised us that they have discontinued the Spa magazine publication of both print and digital editions.

Bonnier is offering full refunds to subscribers. To receive a refund, you do not have to do anything. Your iTunes account will be credited to your payment method within 5 business days.

Sincerely,
iTunes Customer Experience

I attempted to confirm the news by calling the magazine, which is published out of Bonnier's Florida headquarters, but it was after business hours. An email was sent to a press contact but that, too, was unanswered.

I then checked the App Store but Spa Mag, the magazine's iPad app, was still in the store.
But opening the actual app revealed that the magazine will be closing with the Spring 2012 edition. That issue has not hit Apple's Newsstand, which is probably the app remains in the store.

I certainly hope that the staff (what there was of it) was already informed prior to this email going out because it would not exactly be the best way to learn that your magazine has been shuttered (though I have heard of even worse ways to learn this kind of news).

In September of last year Bonnier named Carol Johnson publisher of Spa. Johnson retained her publisher position with another Bonnier magazine, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons. The editor of Spa was also working on Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Susan Moynihan. Obviously Bonnier was attempting some consolidation of duties to lower costs and to save the title.

Spa was a six-time print magazine, but the last print edition appears to have been the September/October issue of 2010. As a digital magazine the last issue inside the magazine's app is dated Winter 2012. The only other issue available is Winter 2011. Obviously Spa was not long for this world, having lost its print edition a while ago, and with digital editions appearing infrequently.

The magazine's website is still silent on the fate of the title, and the last blog entry was three weeks ago, and entries were pretty sporadic as it was.

In any case, this has to be a first: Apple is the one breaking news that a magazine has been shuttered.

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